I should first
mention that it was so fun to read such a hilarious article. I do not know
whether or not the author is Italian, but I should confess that he or she has a
good sense of humor.
Another advantage
of the author is that his or her jokes are not only funny, but also
intelligent. He/she addresses to Sigmund Freud and Oedipus complex, which is
really clever and courage of his or her. The most hilarious part, I think, was
“That climbing trend is mirrored across Europe, but almost 30% of Italian men
aged 30-34, uniquely, have yet to fly the nest. Sigmund Freud would find it
fascinating.” The emphasis of Sigmund Freud, whom I really love because of his
theories, and call “Feridun” among my friends on the purpose of having fun, is
really funny and suitable for his theories. His or her jokes also prove that he
or she is well-informed about philosophy.
If I am to comment
on the content of the article, the first thing I should mention is that I had
already been informative about the topic. In our Italian courses, our Italian
teacher, Durrin Alpakin Martinez Caro, have always been telling stories about
Italian people and Italy. One of the things that she has told us was the relationship
between Italian men, their wife, and men’s mother. In the article, there is a
saying “A lot of marriages break up because his mother is around too much. That
is exactly true according to what our teacher has told us.
All in all, I find
their – both of men and of their mothers- ideas really reasonable. I found the
saying true that “The problems come from a lack of affection than an excess of
it. You don’t find people who are psychologically unbalanced because they got
too much love or protection at home”, which summarizes the entire article. The
phenomenon is also close to the tradition of our country; therefore, which I
can somehow emphatize with Italian men.
13 Haziran 2013 Perşembe
ARTICLE REFLECTION 1: SHOW ME THE WAY TO GO HOME
Upon reading the article “Show Me the Way to Go Home”,
different ideas have started to tangle in my mind, more precisely, I have been
confused very much. Making comparison between different cultures, my mind has
been puzzled. In our culture, it is quite normal for one to stay at his
parents’ home after 18. However, in United States of America, moving into a new
home after reaching 18 is a widely accepted habit, which is the opposite of our
culture.
I have become surprised after I read the passage,
because I have already knew American children reaching 18 left their parents’
home and move into a new home. Even, as I learned by reading it, the rate of
adult children’s who keep staying their parents’ home is really high, which, I
think, is quite a striking fact.
It is so apparent that the article was written by a
professional and well-informed author. We can found out signs for that. For
example, she made use of statistics related to the social events. The other
proof for her being well-informed is that she gives places to the
sociologists’, researchers’, and counselors’ sayings in her article frequently.
I should also mention that I found the article quite sincere; it has a very
sincere language. Moreover, it is made up of the actual events and characters,
which makes it vivid and fun-to-read.
As for the content of the article, different
statements can easily be inferred if it is read carefully. The habit told in
the article exists in our culture, too. Therefore, I somehow understand the
article. Living away from parents and at a different home, one might not direct
his life well-organized. He might found the people around him not sincere and get
bored. He might miss her parents and want to go on his life with parents.
All in all, according to me, living together with
parents is not an extraordinary thing to do. I think the world outside is
artificial consisting of many plastic trees, and I claim that one cannot have
as good relationships as he has with his parents.
ANSWERS TO WIKI DISCUSSION QUESTIONS I have read and answered the questions of the project: Gaziantep, prepared by ASENA AKGÖL, HATEME AYSEL ÇALIŞKAN, ARZU AKKAYA, HELİN AKİN, TUBA CAN. http://tbcan.blogspot.com/2013/06/wiki-project-gaziantep.html 1)Have you ever been in Antep? What did you experience there? 2)Would you like to live in Antep? Why or why not? 3)What did you like most about Antep while reading our wiki project? Dear beloved friends, 1) I have never been to Antep before, but I really want to go there! 2) I would not want to live in Antep because I am a person of Aegean Region, so adapting to there would be difficiult for me. However, visiting there could me wonderful lol. 3) Your project was really perfect, but my favourite one was the pictures you have put on the page.
MY WIKI EVALUATION
To start with, I
liked preparing wiki project. We, Gonca and I, worked separately; therefore, we
were both free to add whatever we want to our writings. I learned new things,
tried new methods, and I think I somehow succeeded in it. Our topic is a
controversial one, so it was not hard to comment on it.
I think I was best
at finding resources. I compiled them in an organized way. What I most liked
was the freedom to write down whatever we wanted. I liked it and I stated my
ideas clearly. What I disliked about wiki project is the hard use of the
website of wikispaces. I did not use it, as I did not know how to use it.
Another problem that I came across was time. I started to do the project too
late, and naturally I was puzzled by the thought of making the project on time.
All in all, it was
a very good process for me. I think I have improved myself in a better way.
WIKI PROJECT – ALCOHOL BAN AND CANNABIS LEGISLATION ALCOHOL BAN IN TURKEY By Serhat ANT
Our president Abdullah Gül ultimately approved the bill restricting alcohol consumption. On May 24, Parliament adopted the bill proposed by the government, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP), in other words, Justice and Development Party. The president, Gül, was let decide on it for 15 days. He approved it and stated that the bill should be seen as a “regulation” rather than a ban.
When we look at the background of the events, we should go back to 2001, when the current government, Justice and Development Party, was elected as the first party at the elections. By then, having strong roots from all over the world, the government has been starting to arrange everything in the country however their members want. They located their own forces to the every place of the country’s ruling branches. With time passing by, they were elected as the most voted party at all elections, and have become more and more powerful every passing year. The starting point of the alcohol ban has gradually been accepted by the public. First, they brainwashed ignorant people with macaroni and coal distributed for free. They made ignorant people addicted to themselves. After come more serious stages. For example, they deteriorated justice system, education system, economy, tourism, natural beauties of the country. They created a nasty environment in politics. They prohibited everything about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. They removed his actions from the school books. They even removed his portraits from government offices. They simply try to reduce the effect of Atatürk and his legacy to the lowest level, which is unforgivable. They pretend to be religious in front of the public. Most of Turkish people are so ignorant that they vote AKP just because Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in other words, so-called Sultan, uses religious figures in his public speech such as “Allah”, “Peygamber”, “Muhammet”, and even “İnşallah” or he is handsome, showman and good-looking. They started to settle their policies on a religious basis. In this sense, they made every move gradually, sneakingly and slowly. At last, they dropped a brick. The most honorable (!) person of our country, our head, our Sultan, our Great Dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared that they would bring up a religious and conservative generation. One should have reminded him that we do not live in a fascist nation and it is a secular country! However, no politicians could dare to rebel his saying, which is not surprising at all.
After the Declaration of Independence (you should accept that it was a good joke) … After the declaration of religious generation, they started to make up policies which, they think, would be beneficial for the youth, in other word, religious people, more precisely, believed to be like that(!) by RTE(Robber, Tarnished, Egotistical), and his brothers being as intelligent(!) as RTE. They get to such a desperate point that they started to harshly restrict personal freedom of the Turkish Nation.
Now, they forbid alcohol consumption. According to the new law approved by the President;
1)Retailers will no longer be allowed to sell alcoholic beverages between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
2)All sorts of advertising campaigns will be completely banned, such as promotions, sponsored activities, festivals and free giveaways. The only exception will be the international fairs aimed at international marketing of the alcoholic beverages.
3)Violators of the advertising ban will be punished with financial penalties ranging from 5000 to 200,000 Turkish liras.
4)Under the bill, alcohol companies would no longer be allowed to promote their brands and logos, these can only be used as part of service inside the facility.
5)All liquor bottles sold would have to display warning signs about the harms of alcohol, again similar to those found on cigarette packages.
6)In TV series, films and music videos, images that glorify the consumption of alcohol will be prohibited. Images of alcohol would be blurred, the same way as cigarettes are being blurred at the moment.
7)Alcoholic beverages will not be allowed to be purchased from vending machines. Beverages could not be sold from see-through shop windows and cannot be sold to be consumed outside the facility.
8)Student dormitories, health institutions, sports clubs, all sorts of education institutions and gas stations will be banned from selling alcohol. Already acquired licenses to sell alcohol will remain intact, yet to get new ones, facilities are required to be located outside the perimeter of 100 meters of educational and religious centers.
9)Those who want to get licenses to sell alcohol from the Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authority (TAPDK) will be conditioned to get the license to open up a business from the municipality and then a tourism document from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Before granting a license the municipalities will get the opinion of the authorized law enforcement forces.
10)The alcohol limit for drivers has also been decreased from 1 to 0.5 promil. If the driver is to exceed this limit, they will be penalized with a fine of 700 liras and their driving license will be seized for a period of six months. Smoking while driving is also prohibited.
REACTIONS RISING AGAINST THE BAN
The soundest reactions came from Turkey’s biggest beverage company, Efes Pilsen.
That’s the newspaper advertisement of the company.
Below is the opening page of the company’s website.
The other smart criticism came from Yeni Rakı, biggest Turkish Raki company of the country.
Two newspaper advertisements of the company are really emotional and successful.
Another criticism is from Şarap Üreticileri Derneği, i.e. Turkish Wine Producers Association, which is highly meaningful and moving.
MY POINT OF VIEW
It is such a shame for our country that the foreigners change their minds to visit Turkey. The situation is so cruel and desperate that it is impossible for one to be happy in Turkey. Turkey’s regime is not democracy anymore; it is a dictatorship! We are ruled by a fascist and idiot dictator, RTE. Where is our freedom? Why cannot we drink alcohol whenever we want? Government should not be able to ban my entertainment. Something must be done to prevent these bad things from happening to my beautiful county. We need to do something! We need to resist!
I end my part with a saying: “People should not be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
LEGALIZATION OF CANNABIS IN U.S – SHOULD IT BE LEGAL OR ILLEGAL?
By Gonca ASLAN
Legalization of cannabis in all countries has been a controversial issue. Especially in more developed countries and in countries that give attention to human rights it’s becoming a fact that a lot of people wants their marijuana usage to become legal. People in different views suggest different ideas for marijuana legalization issue. In this article I will present this views.
Firstly, most supporters of legalizing marijuana say that it’s a useful medicine for some patients, including cancer. This is why many states in United States (currently 19) (ProCon.org, 2013) legalized medical use of marijuana. However, marijuana use is not completely free, there are limited amounts of marijuana a person may carry with him or her. People who don’t support marijuana legalization want to show the point that marijuana can also cause damage to human health as alcohol and tobacco. But the point is, marijuana has much less addiction rate than alcohol and tobacco. (Rabin, 2013) Marijuana also damages lungs as tobacco, but since the consumption rate of marijuana is much less than tobacco, it’s not as dangerous as tobacco. As I mentioned before, 19 states in the U.S either legalized marijuana for medical use or de-criminalized it. (ProCon.org, 2013) Supporters of marijuana points that taking medicines is a personal right and government or other institutions can not restrict this right. (Messerli, 2011) Legalization of the marijuana can prevent secondary crimes related to marijuana distribution. It’s known that when it is illegal distribution of marijuana make people to commit crimes, if it is legal, government can also get taxes from distribution and sale of marijuana, and marijuana distribution can be under control. So, it both reduces crime and creates a new income for government.
It is estimated that in California only tax income from legalization of marijuana can be $1.4 billion. (Peters, 2012)In today’s economy governments need new resources and incomes every time and legalizing marijuana can be an important income opportunity for governments. Legalizing marijuana also reduces expenses spent to reduce crime, so with taxes combined this income can be used for social services or other society needs. Also, the police would be more focused on more serious crimes if the crimes related to drug usage would disappear. “Aside from recreational drug use, Cannabis has several industrial and commercial uses, as over 25,000 products can be made from the crop.” (Messerli, 2011) Cannabis plant is a useful material for producing hemp which is essential for making numerous products. People who don’t support marijuana legalization claim that legalizing marijuana makes it easier for children to meet with the drug (Messerli, 2011). Legal substances are everywhere and there is not enough control to keep the children away from all of them. Non-supporters also think that marijuana is a “gateway” drug, so when a person starts using marijuana, he or she is in danger of moving to other drugs and these other drugs are more dangerous, more addictive and chemical. The earlier people start using marijuana, the more addicted they can be to that substance. (Rabin, 2013)
These are the ideas and facts that is considered by supporters and non-supporters of marijuana legalization. However, I think it is more of a moral subject. Both non-supporters and supporters know that both tobacco and alcohol are more dangerous and addictive than marijuana, and criminalization of marijuana causes some problems in society. This is why in some countries like England, marijuana is an illegal substance however, there is not a strict control and it is often unenforced.
Even more conservative people in U.S. started to support legalization of marijuana use, or controlled distribution and consumption of it. For example Pat Robertson who is an evangelic leader and has audience for many people recently said that “We should treat marijuana like we treat beverage alcohol.” (McKinley, 2012) I think American society is getting more and more ready for legalization of marijuana, after its appearance as a counter-culture symbol in 1960’s this plant. It’s surprising that how conservative people started to stand for legalizing for marijuana.
Marijuana using rate among youth in countries are increasing and it’s inevitable that there must be something done about it, and I think that it is people’s choice to decide what is harmful for them or society. I also think that banning marijuana and allowing tobacco and alcohol is hypocrisy. It is my opinion that sooner or later controlled and limited usage of marijuana will be available for U.S.
REFERENCES
McKinley, J. (2012, March 7). Pat Robertson Says Marijuana Use Should be Legal. Retrieved from New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/us/pat-robertson-backs-legalizing-marijuana.html?_r=0 in May 20, 2013
Messerli, J. (2011, June 8). Should Marijuana be Legalized under any Circumstances? Retrieved from Balanced Politics: http://www.balancedpolitics.org/marijuana_legalization.htm in May 20, 2013
Peters, J. W. (2012, December 7). A Look at Taxing Marijuana. Retrieved from New York Times: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/taxing-marijuana/ in May 20, 2013
ProCon.org. (2013, May 13). 18 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC. Retrieved from ProCon: http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881 in May 20, 2013
Rabin, R. C. (2013, January 7). Legalizing of Marijuana Raises Health Concerns. Retrieved from New York Times: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/legalizing-of-marijuana-raises-health-concerns/ in May 20, 2013 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1) Do you think alcohol ban is a good decision? Why/why not? 2) Do you think AKP is aware of that the nations get to rebel? 3) Do you think Cannabis should be legalized? Why/why not?
SERHAT ANT - GONCA ASLAN
12 Haziran 2013 Çarşamba
REFLECTION JOURNAL 4: DOG DAY AFTERNOON
I have always liked Al Pacino. However, my admiration of
him started after watching Dog Day Afternoon. Before watching the film, I had
no favorite actor; however, I have become a huge fan of Al Pacino after
watching it.
Dog day Afternoon is a black humor, directed by Sidney
Lumet. As cinema fans know, he is also the director of legendary film ‘12 Angry
Men.’ Both films have some similarities. For example, both were shot at just
one place. 12 Angry Men takes place in the court room; Dog Day Afternoon takes
place in a bank. Contrary to what might be thought about this one-place habit,
both movies are not boring at all. They really make audiences think over the
events.
The theme of the film is a bank robs. Al Pacino,
Sonny, and his friend, Sal, a strange character played by John Cazale, one of
the most underrated actors of Hollywood, want their friend, Leon, to undergo an
operation to change his sex. In the film, Sal is gay, although being married to
a wife, and having two children. At one scene, for Leon, Sonny says “my darling
life, Leon, whom I love more than any other man in all eternity” for Leon,
indicating his being gay.
To achieve their goal, they decide to rob Brooklyn
bank. According to their plan, it will take 10 minutes to complete their job.
They are thinking of robbing the bank quickly and getting away from the bank
with the money they steal. However, the things go awry, and everything gets
complicated. After few hours, the police get involved, and encircle the bank.
Two sides, the first one including Sonny, Sal, and bank workers inside, and the
second including police forces, and the curious people outside face off against
each other. 4 hours later, TV cameras come to the crime scene, and the events
are broadcast live on TV.
The film is based on a true story, which makes it much
more attractive and interesting. The sentences “The robbery should have taken
10 minutes. 4 hours later, the bank was like a circus sideshow. 8 hours later,
it was the hottest thing on TV. 12 hours later, it was history. And it’s all
true” can be seen on the film poster.
Briefly, it is my favorite Al Pacino film, and a great
cult. I recommend everyone to watch it.
REFLECTION JOURNAL 3: NOVIEMBRE
I would
like to introduce you a great Spanish movie, Noviembre, which means ‘November’.
It was directed by Achero Manas. The main theme of it is theatre.
The main
character is Alfredo Baeza. He is from Murcia and comes to the capital of
Spain, Madrid, to enter to the conservatory. His brother, Alejandro, is a
handicapped boy who loves puppets. Alfredo used to make puppets on his own for
his brother who is unable to talk and control his body. Alfredo, therefore, is
fond of puppets, too, like his brother. He is elected to conservatory school,
which, at first, makes him extremely happy, and meets with others from same
school. He starts to stay at his friends’ home and they have sincere friendships
with each other.
Alfredo is
a free-spirited character. He loves acting and theatre. His most distinctive
feature is that he hates money. One day, after working on streets doing
juggling or playing instruments, his friend Dani gives some money they earned
but he refuses it. Despite Dani’s insistence, he refuses to take money and for
theatre he says “Taking money in the end means selling out.” He thinks that
theatre should be free and its aim should be to educate public about current
global events. Therefore, he quits the conservatory and wants to set a group
consisting of actors and actresses whose aim is to play free theatre shows on
streets for public’s awareness.
His friends
quit the conservatory after him, and join in Alfredo’s group named ‘The
November Manifesto.’ It is briefly explained in the movie, “We had several
principles. The first was to create a free, independent theater. The second was
to avoid all forms of both public and private aid.”, “No closed premises where
entry could be limited.”, “All established acting methods were prohibited.”,
“The Fifth Commandment, as Alfredo described it, was ''the law of Mohammed'',
which meant we had to go wherever the audience was.”, and “the Tenth, and
final: to never betray the Manifesto under any circumstances.” Afterwards, they
start to play theatre shows on streets.
I liked the
movie because it changed my vision about theatre, money and the relationship
between these two. I did not want to give any spoiler; I just recommend you
watch it.
Here is the
trailer of the movie.
In the
video below, you can see the puppet show of Alfredo at the conservatory
elections.
REFLECTION JOURNAL 2: POPULAR
CULTURE
Popular
culture is one of the most controversial subjects of today’s world. It manages
to draw attention somehow and it seems that in the future debates about it will
go on. Moreover, unfortunately, it will not be less important than now.
If I am to handle
popular culture, I can define it as being addicted to, heavily influenced by or
accepting what the majority like or think without questioning or trying it. This definition leads one to different
questions and concepts. The first question that comes to my mind is that “what
kind of people do ‘the majority’ consist of?” To answer this, I can give ‘the chain’
as a good example. Every one of popular culture members is just a ring of the
great chain, or, with a brighter simile, a legendary Pink Floyd saying “all in
all you’re just another brick in the wall.” Yes, popular culture is a wall and
all the people addicted to it are just useless and insignificant bricks.
There is
another element of popular culture, which is more effective than the chain
part. What I mean by that is a group of people who direct these bricks, in
other words, people. They manipulate whatever they want and use it for their
own welfare. They are made up of different people all around the world and
their most common feature is that they are all rich. Media bosses, heads of
world’s biggest companies and different organizations like Illuminati are
included in this group.
Popular
culture is inevitable, because people are always exposed to the thing manipulators
want to make popular again and again. They cannot hide or run away from it even
if they want to. Their minds are somehow impressed by it very deeply through
subliminal messages or overwhelmingly exposure.
I can give
some example for popular culture elements. The first one is fast-food restaurants
such as Burger King and McDonald’s. People go to eat there, but they are not
saturated with it. However, they insistently deny this fact, and they pretend
to be saturated with! Liars! They are just liars. They go these places just for
they are popular.
Another popular
culture component is music. Everyone listens to one song, and even if the song
is not good, others keep listening to it. I can give an awful song “Gangnam
Style” as an example.
REFLECTION JOURNAL 1: YASMIN LEVY
I would
like to introduce you one of my favorite singers, Yasmin Levy. In 2011 summer,
I went to Spain and before going there I searched and listened to many Spanish
singers and bands so that I could know their language and culture better.
Yasmin was the one that I liked most among them.
Yasmin Levy
is a Spanish-Jewish singer. Her Jew ancestors were made to migrate from Spain
and they came to Turkey. Yasmin’s father was born in Manisa, and Yasmin was
born in İzmir. She is the singer of these lands.
In her
songs, main themes are love, melancholy and sadness. She said in Bursa concert,
in which I also went, that “I am a person of melancholy because it is the life
itself. It makes me feel alive. Joyful songs are not for me.”
She loves
Turkey very much. She comes to Turkey every year give concerts, to two of which
I went. Her songs and music are made up of Flamenco and Arabic features. They
also carry many features of Turkish music. If one listens to her songs, he can
easily understand that her music has been inspired by Turkish music very much.
In her band, there is an Armenian musician who plays clarinet. For example, one
of her songs, Una Ora, which means ‘One Hour’, is the cover version of a
Turkish song, Kadifeden Kesesi, sang by Candan Erçetin. I should also mention
that the slower version of this song, Una Ora En La Ventana, meaning ‘One Hour at
the Window’ should absolutely be listened.
Another
example for her being fond of Turkish music is her last album. In her last
album, she covered one of Sezen Aksu’s best known works, ‘Firuze’ in her own
language. She covered another Turkish song ‘Aman Doktor’ in the album.
If I am to
cut it short, I should say that she is a beautiful woman and a great singer who
deeply impresses my soul. One who does not know her lacks a great taste in his
life.
I love
every one of her songs equally. However, below is the one that I frequently
listen to nowadays, Naci En Alamo, which means ‘I was born In Alamo.’ You can
also understand how talented the Armenian clarinetist is upon listening to his
clarinet solos.
THE REVISED VERSION
SPAIN – THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
I want to inform you of Spain and my experiences there. At the july of 2011, I went to Spain and stayed there for one week. It was definitely one of the most wonderful weeks I have ever lived. When we got off the bus and met our partners, we were prejudiced and cold against them but they were really hot-blooded, and the first thing they said was ‘kanka naber ya? Hoşgeldiniz!’ According to me, Tourism is not only natural beauties and good places of the country I visit. I also give importance to the people of that country, because I’m a linguist; I need to talk to people there! By this point, I really liked Spain and had wonderful time there. People were so friendly, hot-blooded, jokey, and talkative, which was great. They really made us at home. Their features consisted of not only their being nice against us, they were also hospitable and knew how to enjoy the moment! Before we go, we had been said there was an economic crisis in Spain, and we might not have good time there because of it. However, we experienced that the Spanish did not care of economic crisis or their problems. On the contrary, they just thought of having fun, which was very nice! I made really good friends there. For example, my partner -Ignacio- was the best of the Spanish group, which consisted of 19 people. I know that I have a home in Spain and whenever I go there, they will make me at home again! As for Spain, its culture and language were really marvelous. For example, I cannot forget watching flamenco show at the last day there! There were great places and I really enjoyed visiting. The architecture, especially of the churches, is really fascinating. There are so many festivals that people can enjoy. The only thing I did not like was Spain’s eating habit and meals. They even do not have breakfast properly! However, it was not a big problem at all. As a conclusion, I really love Spain, its people, its language, its culture, everything about it! I still miss it, and I recommend you to have a visit there definitely before you die, at least for once!
The introduction part of the video is really important and beautiful for me as I love flamenco and Spanish music. As I mentioned above, and as you see in the video, Spanish people are fond of their fun. There are so many festivals that you can enjoy. There are also football teams that play really good such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia. In the video, we can also see movie stars Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz, and the greatest Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. I really love this quadruplet, and I am very delighted to see them in the video. As a conclusion, I can sum up Spain and the Spanish in three sentences: have fun, have fun, and have fun!
I would like to evaluate my opinions about The Chaser. I have quite strange opinions about the writer of it, John Collier. At first, he reminded me of Quentin Tarantino, a great director from Hollywood, who has created a completely new and peculiar style of his own in last two decades. His movies always consist of long and nice dialogs, a complicated montage, a pretty interesting topic and one more thing which is more important than the others: at the end of his movies, the events and problems are left unsolved and the spectators are made to think over the continuation of the movie. Therefore, I see John Collier as the representative of Quentin Tarantino in the field of literature and this story as a written version of any Tarantino movie, because after I read this story Icannot help thinking over it and really wonder what could have been if the story had gone on more! It is quite attractive. As for the content of the story, I can say that I enjoyed reading long ‘Tarantinalist’ dialogues. The old man speaks very convincingly and presents very promising things. However, we cannot be sure whether what he tells is true or not. Also, he has a plain room and uses a polite and confidential language against customers. There are striking couple of sentences in the text: “Young people who need a love potion very seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a love potion”, by which I was fascinated. There is another mystery: au revoir, meaning ‘goodbye, until we meet again.’ This phrase, along with the old man’s saying “Please a customer with one article, and he will come back when he needs another.” might indicate his potion, that is to say, he himself is something/someone tricky and will make Alan come back again.
I really liked the video as it thoroughly tells the story without an addition or deduction. I really appreciated the music at the beginning and at the end of the movie. Another striking point that draws my attention is that the whole movie was performed by puppets, which is highly intelligent. Dubbing artists are really successful and it is so obvious that the movie was made by professional producers, which can explain the high quality of the content of the movie.
I watched a movie named Harold and Maude 2 days before
I wrote this article and I still feel its influence on me! It is an absurd film,
characters and the plot are really interesting, not common ones. It says on the
screen that the movie consists of only Cat Stevens songs, which really makes me
happy as I love Cat Stevens. At the very beginning of the film, a happy Cat
Stevens song plays and a boy named Harold hang himself to ceiling with rope. I
am really shocked at seeing it but a minute later, his mother enters the room
and I infer from her talk that he just pretends to commit a suicide. The boy is
really strange. He always pretends to commit suicide; he is obsessed with
death. He rarely talks. He does not like people and talking to them. His only
social activity is going to funerals with an old car he restored. At one
funeral, he meets an old lady named Maude.Maude is an interesting character, too. She lives alone, goes to
funerals just like Harold. She is a free-spirited character. She says when she
was young she attended political meetings and protests. As for now, she still
emancipates herself from mental slavery, the society’s norms and clichés, which
really impresses me. Another striking feature of Maude is that she steals other
people’s cars, and sometimes hearses, after funerals, when going home. Harold
and Maude become good friends and start going to funerals together. As the time
goes by, they, Harold, a boy obsessed with death in his puberty, and Maude, a
lady living joyfully in her 80, fall in love each other. Afterwards, the story
goes on interestingly and the end of the movie is unforgettable. I really
recommend this wonderful movie because it breaks the limit of concepts of love
and friendship; it criticizes some features of society. It is such a nice and
interesting story that everyone should do watch it.
Here is the trailer of Harold and Maude. It is really
nice and at the background a Cat Stevens song “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing
out” plays. When meeting each other, Harold and Maude are really having fun;
they are so happy. In some scenes, we can see that Harold kills himself. That
is because he is obsessed with death. He always pretends to commit suicide.
Also, in some scenes, there are girls sitting and chatting with Harold’s mother.
These girls are arranged by Harold’s mother to date with Harold because she
wants her son to be married. However, by making jokes in front of girls, Harold
frightens them and makes them all escape. As you can understand, he is not a
normal boy. The movie is not normal, either. After you watch it, you will be
full of happiness. That is why I strongly recommend you to watch it. Watch it,
and come to me to talk about the movie. If you do not like it, I swear I will
give up watching movies!
MULTIMEDIA REFLECTION 2
SPAIN – THE
MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
I want to talk
about Spain and my experiences about it. July of 2011, I went to Spain and
stayed there for one week. It was definitely my most wonderful week I have ever
lived. When we got off the bus and met our partners we were prejudiced and cold
against them but they were really hot-blooded and the first thing they said was
‘kanka naber ya? Hoşgeldiniz!’ According to me, Tourism is not only the natural
beauties and good places of country I visit. I also give importance to the
people of that country. Because I’m a linguist, I need to talk to people there!
By this point, I really liked Spain and had wonderful time there. People were
so friendly, hot-blooded, jokey and talkative, which was great. They really made us at home. Their features consisted of not
only their being nice against us. They were also hospitable and knew how to
enjoy the moment! Before we go, we had been said there was an economic crisis
in Spain and we might not have good time there because of it. However, we
experienced that The Spanish did not care of economic crisis or their problems.
On the contrary, they just thought of having fun, which was very nice! I made
really good friends there. For example, my partner -Ignacio- was the best of
the Spanish group, which consisted of 19 people. I know that I have a home in
Spain and whenever I go there, they will make me at home again! As for Spain,
its culture and language were really marvelous. For example, I cannot forget
watching flamenco show at my last day there! There were great places and I
really enjoyed visiting. The architecture, especially of
the churches, is really fascinating. There are so many festivals that people
can enjoy. The only thing I did not like was Spain’s eating habit and meals.
Even, they do not have breakfast properly! However, it was not a big problem at
all. As a conclusion, I really love Spain, its people, its language, its
culture, everything about it! I still miss it and I recommend you to have a
visit there definitely before you die, at least for once!
The introduction part of the video is really important
and beautiful for me as I love flamenco and Spanish music. As I mentioned
above, and as you see in the video, Spanish people are fond of their fun. There
are so many festivals that you can enjoy, there are also football teams that
play really good such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. In
the video, we can also see movie stars Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas,
Penelope Cruz and the greatest Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. I really love
this quadruplet and I am very delighted to see them in the video. As a
conclusion, I can sum up Spain and the Spanish in three sentences: have fun, have fun, and have
fun!
MULTIMEDIA REFLECTION 1
TARANTINO’S REFLECTION IN
LITERATURE: JOHN COLLIER
I would like to evaluate my opinions about The Chaser.
I have quite strange opinions about the writer of it, John Collier. At first, he
reminded me of Quentin Tarantino, a great director from Hollywood, who has
created a completely new and peculiar style of his own in last two decades. His
movies always consist of long and nice dialogs, a complicated montage, a pretty
interesting topic and one more thing which is more important than all other
things: at the end of his movies, the events and problems are left unsolved and
the spectators are made to think over the rest of the movie. Therefore, I see
John Collier as the representative of Quentin Tarantino in the field of
literature and this story as a written version of any Tarantino movie because
after I read this story Icannot help
thinking over it and really wonder what could have been if the story had gone
on more! It is quite attractive. As for the content of the story, I can say
that I enjoyed reading long ‘Tarantinalist’ dialogues.
The old man speaks very convincingly and presents very promising things.
However, we cannot be sure whether what he tells is true or not. Also, he has a
plain room and uses a polite and confidential language against customers. There
are striking couple of sentences in the text: “Young people who need a love
potion very seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a
love potion”, by which I was fascinated. There is another mystery: au revoir,
meaning ‘goodbye, until we meet again.’ This phrase, along with the old man’s
saying “Please a customer with one article, and he will come back when he needs
another.” might indicate his potion, that is to say, he himself is
something/someone tricky and will make Alan come back again.
I really liked the video as it thoroughly tells the
story without an addition or deduction. I really appreciated the music at the
beginning and at the end of the movie. Another striking point that draws my
attention is that the whole movie was performed by puppets, which is highly
intelligent. Dubbing artists are really successful and it is so obvious that the movie was made by professional producers, which can
explain the high quality of the content of the movie.
